May 30 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

GENERAL SUMMARY ~ Ernest Holmes
(Continued from April 30th)

"The only concentration necessary in the best use of Mind is specific mental attention and complete mental acceptance.  Always remember that you are not dealing with a reluctant Force but with a completely receptive one which, by Its very nature, is compelled to receive the images of your thought.  It has no other choice and can conceive no other.  You make up Its mind for It.

Acceptance and realization.  These words are fraught with the greatest meaning to the one who wishes to consciously use the creative power of thought for definite purposes.  Acceptance and realization are mental qualities and may be consciously generated.

When we treat we should be specific.  "Whatsoever things we desire" when we pray we should "believe that we have them."  If we wish money we should ask for, or mentally accept, money.  If we wish a home we should ask for, or mentally accept, a home.  We can put as much detail into our mental work as we desire.  Sometimes to do so will be of great service in gaining a complete mental acceptance of our desires.  This is the whole secret, a complete mental acceptance and embodiment of our desires.

Our mental acceptances should be filled with conviction, warmth, color and imagination.  The creative power responds to feeling more quickly than to any other mental attitude.   Therefore we should try to feel the reality of what we are doing when we give a treatment.  This reality is felt as we become more and more convinced that Spirit responds to us.

We should grow into the understanding that Spirit responds to us and becomes more conscious of Its Presence within us.  It is the very breath of our breath...the imagination back of our word.  It is the creative power in our thought and the law and energy that executes that thought.  "God is all in all, over all and through all."  There can be no greater or more complete Allness.  This Allness is within us, or we may say that within is the only place we can contact It.  It is necessary to understand this else sometimes we shall be trying to reach outside and this is impossible.

If one were to make a complete mental picture of himself as he would like to be, filling in all the details of his desire and trying to accept the whole thing as a present reality, he would soon demonstrate that the control of affairs is from within out and not from without; the cause being that whatever exists as a mental picture in Mind must tend to, and finally does take form if the picture is really believed in and embodied.

We should be careful to distinguish day dreaming and wistful wishing from really dynamic and creative treatment.  When we treat we do not wish, we KNOW.  We do not dream, we STATE.  We do not hope, we ACCEPT.  We do not pray, we ANNOUNCE.  We do not expect something is going to happen, we BELIEVE THAT IT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED.

We should think clearly and allow the image of our thoughts to sink into a subjective state.  We do not crowd them down, we let them sink into this inner receptivity with power and with conviction.  Our individual subjective mind is our place in the Universal Creative Law and immediately connects us with limitless power and energy.

There is a vast difference between "holding thoughts" and holding things in thought.  One is the attempt at an impossible coercion; the other is a mental acceptance.  To hold thoughts, as though we were forcing issues, does no good and utilizes but a fraction of the creative power at our disposal.  To hold in thought, as though we were LETTING something happen, is to use the greater power...the greatest power of all."

May 29 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

A Formula for Effective Prayer (Matt. 21:21, 22) ~ Ernest Holmes

"THE THINGS WE NEED, WE ARE TO ASK FOR - and WE ARE TO BELIEVE THAT WE RECEIVE THEM!  This plumbs the very depths of the metaphysical and psychological law of our being, and explains the possibility of an answer to our prayers.

When we pray we are to believe that we have.  We are surrounded by a universal law which is creative.  It moves from the thought to the thing.  Unless there is first an image, it cannot move, for there would be nothing for it to move toward.  Prayer, which is a mental act, must accept its own answer as an image in mind, before the divine energies can play upon it and make it productive.

As we must plant a seed before we can reap a harvest, so we must believe before our prayers can be answered.  Prayer should reach a point of acceptance, an unqualified and undisputed place of agreement.  Let us take the mental images of our desires to the bosom of the Creative Life, and here make them known by impressing them upon It with positive belief.  If we do this, our prayers will be answered.

But let us remember that true prayer is always universal.  There can be no good to us alone, only as that good is for all.  This does not mean that we are to refrain from asking what we desire, but that we should wish only for that which is good.  For instance, it is good to have a home; it is good for all people to have homes while here on earth; it is right to ask for one, but it would not be right to ask for one belonging to another.

If we wish to pray for a home, we should take the idea of a house with us into the silence and meditate upon its actual being.  We should believe that we have and own a home, but we should leave the idea free to fulfill itself, without any definite choosing of how, where, why or when.  In this way, we pray aright and when we so pray, we pray effectively.  God wills us to have everything.  As we express life, we fulfill God's law of abundance, but we do this only as we realize that there is good enough to go around - only as we know that all of God's gifts are given as freely and fully as the air and the sunshine...alike to all.

The Two Great Commandments (Matt. 22:36-41)

The two great commandments are to love God and our brother man.  On these hang all the law and the prophets.  Love is a complete unity with life, and we cannot enter this state unless we are in unity with all that lives, for all life is One.  To love God alone is not enough, for this would exclude our fellowman.  To love our fellowman alone is not sufficient, for this would be too limited a concept of God.

When we realize that God and man are One and not two, we shall love both.  We shall love man as an expression of God, and God as the Life Principle in all.

From this teaching, we are not to suppose that we are to love that in each other which does not savor of right, we are to love the right alone.  We are to look for God in each other and love this God, forgetting all else.  But would this compel us to accept from people that which is not good?  Of course not!  It is not necessary for one to make a doormat of himself in proving that God is love, for this would be like suffering for righteousness' sake, which is always a mistake.

We should be wise in the ways of the world, as well as imbued with Divine wisdom.  We are not to mistake a counterfeit for the real, nor accept every man's doctrine lest we disagree.  The Truth is positive but non-combative; It is sure of Itself, but never argumentative.  It loves sincerity and abhors deceit.  Above all else, the Truth is wise, It represents the All-seeing Eye, from which nothing can be hidden.  The student of Truth will receive all that comes in the name of the Lord, that is, all that is of the Truth; all else will fall by its own weight.

History Proves the Reality of Truth (Matt. 26:52)

As we glance over the pages of history, this saying of Jesus stands sure and true:  "...for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."  Those nations who have risen by the sword have fallen among the ruins of their own false hopes.  History has proven that strife begets strife, that the way of the transgressor is hard.

In international strife, all nations are beaten, in so far as they have taken up the sword in hate, avarice or lust.  We do not recognize this apparent power which lasts for a day, for it is but a false gesture, defeating its own purpose as falseness ever must.

Jesus speaking from the viewpoint of Eternal Truth, said that all who take the sword shall perish with it.  THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN THE BEST TO THE WORLD HAVE ALWAYS BEEN BEST REMEMBERED BY IT, AND MOST LOVED THROUGHOUT THE AGES.  If we attempt to measure existence from this short span of life, it would not be explained, and we should find no real answer to life itself.  Hate begets hate and strife produces strife.  Love alone overcomes all and justifies the eternity of her dominion.

God Turns to Us as We Turn to Him (Luke 15)

The parable of the Prodigal Son constitutes one of the greatest spiritual lessons in the history of religious education.  It is an attempt, on the part of the Great Teacher, to show that God turns to us as we turn to Him; that there is a reciprocal action between the Universal and the individual mind; that the Spirit is ready to help us whenever we turn to It.

The greatest lesson we have to learn is the unity of Love and Law; the necessity of law in shaping a divine individuality and the necessity of experience in awakening to this divine individuality.

God is Love and God is Law; the Love of God is omnipresent and the Law of God is omnipresent.  The Love of God is the Divine givingness: the eternal outpouring of Spirit through Its creation.  The Law of God is the Law of Cause and Effect, which says that we can have only what we take.  Since this taking is a mental and spiritual (as well as physical) act, we can take only that to which we are receptive.  Jesus taught that it is done unto us as we really believe.  "The thought is ever father to the act.""

May 28 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Seeing Perfection ~ Ernest Holmes

"When Jesus said to the man, "Stretch forth thine hand," he undoubtedly saw a perfect hand!  If everything is mental, and if Jesus saw an imperfect hand instead of a perfect one, no good would have resulted, according to the law of cause and effect. A practitioner does not treat a sick man, he deals only with the idea, a spiritual man; otherwise, he would enter into the vibration of suffering and might himself experience the result of such vibration.  From what we know, Jesus must have seen only the perfect hand.  Even though he might have recognized the false condition, as far as his word of healing was concerned, it must have been a recognition of perfection...else it could not have healed.

Healing is not creating a perfect idea or a perfect body; it is revealing an idea which is already perfect.  Healing is not a process, it is a revelation, through the thought of the practitioner to the thought of the patient.  There may be a process in healing, but not a process of healing.  The process in healing is the mental work and the time it takes the practitioner to convince himself of the perfectness of his patient; and the length of time it takes the patient to realize this perfectness.

Back of what we call the human body, there must be a Divine Body.  It is not necessary to visualize this spiritual body, but we should sense body as a spiritual idea, that the flow and circulation of life through it is complete.  It is not inhibited...not congested.

It is necessary that the practitioner believe in a perfect body.  He cannot realize this unless he has already become convinced that the perfect body IS there.  If he has come to this conclusion, he must not deny it.  There is a perfect heart and a perfect idea of heart, a perfect head and a perfect idea of a head, perfect lungs and a perfect idea of lungs.  The practitioner must realize that back of the appearance is the Reality, and it is his business to uncover this Reality.  He does this through a process of obliterating false thought.  He must deny false conclusions, bring out the evidence of perfection, and produce the healing.  Disease is a fact but not a truth; it is an experience but not a spiritual reality.

We must transcend the appearance, even though we admit it as a fact.  We are not so cold-blooded as to say to a person with pain that there is no such thing as pain.  That is not our idea or purpose.  We admit the fact.  IT IS QUITE A DIFFERENT THING TO ADMIT ITS NECESSITY.  We admit that there is unhappiness, but it would be unthinkable to admit that one has to be unhappy.  Can it be true that there could be a Universal necessity for unhappiness.  IT CANNOT.  And the time will come when no one will be unhappy!  I do not know when it will come.  I am not going to wait for it to come, but it is certain that such a time will arrive; and it will come to you and to me NOW in such degree as we will let it come.  We shall be able to let it come in such degree as we are able to convince our consciousness that it is there, and when it finally does come, we shall find that it was always there!

Disease, accordingly, is a fact but not a truth.  It is not an eternal verity.  It was a fact in human experience for ages that people did not broadcast over a radio, but it was not a truth that they could not.  It was not a divine Reality, because had they known how to manufacture a radio and talk over it, they could have broadcast in any age.  So we must try to see and sense that always, back of the appearance, PERFECTION IS."

May 27 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Power of the Word ~ Ernest Holmes

"Be specific in treating, be direct and definite in your mental work.  You are dealing with Intelligence, so deal with It intelligently.  The treatment must realize the patient as perfect, must recognize the word as power, must know that it breaks down every man-made law and casts it out, that it is the law of harmony and the recognition of the Presence of Good, that within itself it is unbounded, and equipped with the power to execute itself - and it must know that it does this.  It must know that there is nothing that can change it, that there is no belief which can hinder it; that it cannot be reversed, misplaced, mislaid, neutralized or destroyed by any opposing force; that it does the thing it is supposed to do.  And it must know that it is continuous and unremitting and will operate until it does all it is supposed to do.

Jesus said:  "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."  And Isaiah understood something of this when he said:  "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void."

May 26 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Treating Children ~ Ernest Holmes

"In the case of an infant - who is subjective to the conscious thought of the people around it - it may be necessary to teach the parents how to think about the child, else one might heal the infant and have the parents' thought make it sick again.  Explain to them the result of entertaining fears for the health of their children.  Remember that the thought of the parents influences the child.

We will suppose the mother is constantly saying:  "The poor thing; the poor, little sick thing."  From the human standpoint, this is natural, but it does not help the child, no matter how loving the thought may be.  This is called unconscious, or innocent, malpractice.  It is malpractice because it is the wrong use of thought; innocent because it is not intended to harm; unconscious because the mother does not know the result of such mental action.  In such a case, it is the business of the practitioner to realize that there is no mental influence operating through the child except a belief in perfection.

At first, children are happy, free, spontaneous.  That is why we like them, they live instinctively.  As they grow older and their emotions become more complex, and they hear people talk about death, trouble, divorce, love and marriage and everything else, good, bad and indifferent, they begin to react to these emotions subjectively.  Everything that opposes harmony and spontaneous unity, will prove disastrous to the child's health, sooner or later.  After a certain age, children have to be re-educated, just as do adults, that their subjective mind may not reproduce false impressions."

May 25 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Medium of Healing ~ Ernest Holmes

"The thing to remember is, that THERE IS JUST ONE SUBJECTIVE MIND IN THE UNIVERSE.  This is a point that people often do not realize, and because they do not, they cannot see how a person may be treated without touching him, or that a person at a distance can be helped through absent treatment.  If there is but One Subjective Mind in the Universe (and we have already learned the meaning and nature of Subjective Mind:  It is the deductive, receptive, plastic, neutral, impersonal and creative, It is the Stuff from which all things are made) you can impress upon It a certain image of thought, or a certain process of realization, and you will get a result, for It is the Actor.

When we speak of every thought dropped into the Creative Medium, do we think of God's thought and man's thought as the same?  We think of each as thought; but, whereas man thinks both inductively and deductively, God thinks only deductively.

God is not conscious of matter as we know it.  God is conscious of form but not of size.  God is conscious of manifestation but not of space.  God is conscious of outline but not of limitation.  God is conscious in many forms, but not as division.

There is a great difference between conscious and unconscious thought for trained thought is far more powerful than untrained.  If this were not true, the thoughts of the metaphysical practitioner could not neutralize those which caused his patient to be sick.  Even a small amount of right thought puts to rout that which is wrong.

We have learned that Subjective Mind can deduce only, that It cannot of Itself initiate anything; but this does not mean that It is unintelligent.  We must be very careful not to labor under the delusion that because Subjective Mind cannot reason, It is unintelligent, for It is infinitely more intelligent than our present state of conscious mind, but is, nevertheless, controlled by it.

If our subjective consciousness were always clear, if it never received false impressions, the Spirit would always flow to the point of objectivity, and we would never make mistakes, would never be sick, poor or unhappy.

The Universe being deductive only, cannot refuse man anything.   The very force which makes us sick can heal us, the force which makes us poor can enrich us, and the power which makes us miserable can make us happy.  If this were not true, there would be a duality in the Universe and this is impossible.

You do not need to look for a law of health as opposed to a law of disease, for there is only One Law.  This gives a great sense of relief since it means that THERE IS NO POWER TO OPPOSE A TREATMENT.  We are bound by our very freedom, our free will binds us, but as free will creates the conditions which externally limits us, so it can uncreate or dissolve them.  Instead of saying, "Here is a sick man to heal, and I shall have to work hard on this case," we should realize that there is nothing but Spirit in the Universe and, therefore, say, "I am going to conceive of this man as being Spirit, and the same power which made him sick will heal him."

People often say:  "It must be a drain on one to treat so many people.  I should think the practitioner's will-power would become exhausted."  This is a misconception.  Our reference to "free will" means merely the matter of self-choosing, the matter of deciding what we shall think.  WILL-POWER HAS NOTHING WHATEVER TO DO WITH MENTAL HEALING!  Its use would imply that the practitioner exercises a personal thought force over his patient.  This is a false suggestion, which is always some form of hypnotism.  Knowing our Oneness with God and the Creative Medium, Law, our treatments are free from any thought of control.

All thoughts of doubt concerning one's ability to heal, come from the belief that it is the personality and not the Law which does the healing.  Never say:  "I am not good enough to heal," or "I do not know enough to heal."  Know that you are dealing with the Law, It is the Actor.  Recognize all such arguments as some form of suggestion, and refuse to let them operate through you.  YOU CAN HEAL, but you must know that you can!  The day will come, and is rapidly approaching, when the entire world will believe the truth, because of the great neutralizing power which right thought is exercising upon the race consciousness.

The reason people do not get better results is that they do not understand that Principle works independently...the Truth demonstrates Itself!"

May 24 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

I Shall Never Die

I shall never die, for the Spirit within me is God and cannot change.

My life is hid within the Universe of Love and Light, and that Light shall live forever.

Go, fear of death and change; begone from my thought, fear of death and uncertainty.

That which cannot become that which is not; and that which I am can never change.

The Spirit of Eternity is enthroned within me, and the Life of Endless Ages flows through my being.

From Eternity to Eternity my Life flows along its way of peace and harmony.

Time brings but more glory to crown me with its pleasures.

My life is forever.

May 23 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

As Little Children (Matt. 18:3) ~ Ernest Holmes

"We must become as little children.  How we long for a return of that simple trust in life which children have; in their minds there are no doubts - they have not yet been told that they are sinners, destitute of divine guidance and spiritual life.  The life of the child is lived in natural goodness.  God is natural goodness.  The prison walls of false experience soon build themselves into barriers, shutting out the light, and the child grows into a man, often losing his sense of that inner Guide, leading his footsteps aright.

We must return the way we came.  As little children, who know that life is good and to be trusted, we are to approach our problems as though they were not.  Approaching them in this manner, they will vanish.

Let not the materialist deny us this right, nor the unbelieving cast any reflection of his blindness before our eyes.  There is a wisdom and power not of the flesh, which spring perennially from the inner life - all-powerful and all-wise.

Whatsoever Ye Shall Bind on Earth (Matt. 18:18)

Next we come to a passage difficult to understand and one which has caused confusion in many minds.  "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

A superficial reading of this passage might lead one to suppose that this earth provides the last chance for the salvation of the soul.  But this is not the meaning of the text which implies that the experience of death cannot change all.  As a man has lived on earth, so he will continue to live after death.  If he has been pure, he will continue to be pure.  If he has been otherwise, he will continue to be otherwise.

False experience will continue until the lesson is learned, until the soul turns from that which hurts to its greater good.  The spirit of man is of like nature to the Spirit of God, and it is impossible for the Spirit of God to remain in darkness.  The next life is a logical continuation of this one and could not be otherwise.

Divine Forgiveness (Matt. 18:21, 22)

In the next passage, Jesus clearly explains the meaning of divine forgiveness.  He says that we should forgive until seventy times seven.  This is but another way of saying that forgiveness is eternal and ever available.  What a load is dropped from the shoulders of personal responsibility, when we realize that the Eternal Mind hold naught against anyone!  But, to those who feel that this is unfair, it will be a hard saying.  "What," says one, "are not my virtues to be rewarded above those who have none?"  O, foolish one and blind, what do you know about virtue?  Has your life always been beyond reproach?  Have you never fallen short of the divine calling?  Who are you to point the finger of scorn at your brother?  The man who feels self-righteousness rise from his petty virtues, lives a life of self-delusion.

Know this:  Virtue does not know that it is virtuous, and could it know, it would immediately become vicious.  Virtue is sweet as the morning dew, soft as the evening star, and brilliant as the noonday sun.  Could the dew tell why it is sweet, the star say why its light is soft, or the sun say why it shines?  When we learn to put away our petty virtues with our petty vices, then shall we see clearly - not what either virtue or vice is - but what Truth is!

The mind which condemns, understands not the truth of being, and the heart which would shut the door of its bosom to one who is mistaken, strangles its own life, closing its eyes to a greater vision.  The biggest life is the one which includes the most.

Not that we foster vice or place a premium upon wrong-doing, but that we understand the frailties of human nature and learn to overlook much.  To him who loves much, much is forgiven."

May 22 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

Oh, for a Tongue to Express

Oh, for a tongue to express the Wonders which the Thought reveals!

Oh, for some Word to comprehend the boundless idea!

Would that some Voice were sweet enough to sound the harmony of Life.

But Within, in that vast realm of thought where the Soul meets God, the Spirit knows.

I will listen for that Voice and It will tell me of Life, of Love and Unity.

Speak to me, Spirit.

O Soul of Mind, Look Out and See

O Soul of mine, look out and see; look up and know Thy freedom.

Be not cast down nor dismayed; be uplifted within me and exult, for Thy Salvation has come.

Behold the wonders of the Great Whole and the marvels of the Universe.

Look out and see Thy good.  It is not afar off, but is at hand.

Prepare Thyself to accept and believe; to know and live.

Let Life enter and live through Thee, Soul of mine, and rejoice that Thou hast vision so fair and so complete.

Rejoice that the Perfect Whole is so completely reflected through Thee.

My light has come.

May 21 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

No Sensation in Treatments ~ Ernest Holmes

"It is sometimes thought that in giving or receiving a treatment, one must experience some physical sensation:  "I felt nothing unusual during the treatment." It is not necessary that the patient should feel anything unusual.  There is no peculiar sensation which accompanies a treatment, neither is it necessary that the practitioner should feel anything, other than the truth of the words that he speaks.

When we plant a seed in the ground we do not have a great sensation, and it is not probably that the soil has any; but the seed planted in thee creative soil will, nevertheless, produce a plant.   "What is true on one plane is true on all."  Know what you are doing just as definitely as the gardener does.  It is the person who knows what he is doing who gets results.

Sometimes people who are being treated, as well as the practitioner, feel a great sense of peace, or elation, a vibration of light.  Such a treatment - if it could be seen - might appear as light.  People often do have a sense of light during a treatment; but it is not at all necessary that either the practitioner or the patient should experience any sensation out of the ordinary during a  treatment.  The practitioner does not work himself up into an emotional state. While it is true that the treatment is creative, it is also true that whatever feeling there is, must be an effect and not a cause.  It must be the result of a conviction."

May 20 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Healing is Clear Thinking (continued) ~ Ernest Holmes

"Right thought, constantly poured into consciousness, will eventually purify it.  Discord might be likened to a bottle of impure water; healing might be likened to the process of dropping pure water into the bottle, a drop at a time, until the whole is clean and pure.  Someone might ask why the bottle could not be turned upside down and at once drain out all the impurities.  Sometimes this happens but not often.  Meanwhile, a drop at a time will finally eliminate the impurities and produce a healing.

In treating, go beyond the disease and supply a spiritual consciousness.  A treatment is not complete without a great realization of Life and Love, of God and Perfection, of Truth and Wisdom, of Power and Reality.  Sense the Divine Presence in and through the patient at all times.

Whether we say that thought goes out, or that it is operated upon by Principle makes little difference.  It is very evident that until a thought is created, there is no operation.  It is evident that THINKING SETS CAUSATION IN MOTION.  Whether the word used heals, or simply sets the law in motion, really is of small import.

The practitioner is in the same Mind in which his patient lives; consequently, since each is in the One Mind, the patient is sick in the same medium and in a certain sense in the same Mind in which the practitioner lives; and because this Mind is Indivisible, the practitioner can, in his own mentality, reach the thought which causes the patient to be sick.  Whether we say he sends out a thought, or that he simply realizes a thought, makes no difference.  The simplest way is to say that the practitioner realizes, within himself, upon the One Mind, through the One Medium, in the One Law.

The practitioner realizes a certain truth for his patient within himself.  Therefore, he sets the Law in motion for his patient.  (The operation of this Law may be thought of in the same way we think of the law whereby water reaches its own level by its own weight.)  The practitioner knows WITHIN HIMSELF, and this self-knowingness rises into the consciousness of his patient.  It is like planting a seed in the ground, the practitioner sows the seed and the Creative Mind produces the plant.  Does the soil operate on the seed, or does the seed operate on the soil?  We do not know, but we do know that when a seed is put into the ground, the law pertaining to growth operates and a plant is produced, and that unless a seed is planted, no plant will be produced.

In practice, we make no attempt to send thoughts to our patients!  We know there is but One Mind.  We will say that "A" represents one who is sick and desires help.  "B" represents a practitioner.  "B" thinks into Mind; and whether we say that he is thinking within himself or somewhere else does not matter, he is always thinking into Mind, because he is in Mind!  But one might say, "The patient thinks into his own subjective mind."  Yes, if you wish to designate it as his subjective mind, but his subjective mind is only his atmosphere in the One Mind.  We must understand this very clearly, else someday there will be a wall between our thought and its ability to heal some person who happens to be at a physical distance.

Both the patient and the practitioner think into the common Mind.  Therefore, when a patient comes to a practitioner for healing, the practitioner does not try to hypnotize him, nor suggest anything to him.  He declares the Truth about the patient.  To the degree that the practitioner brings his own consciousness to a true recognition of perfection - provided there is a subjective receptivity in the thought of the patient - that man will be helped.

The practitioner does not try to hold a thought nor to send out a thought.   He simply tries to convince himself of the perfection of his patient.  The practitioner does not try to make his word operate through his patient, but only attempts to know the Truth of what he states.  The patient must be receptive to the Truth, then the Truth will heal him.  The practitioner is dealing with Universal Law, backed by omnipotent Power, which is Divine Principle.  This is what Jesus meant when he said:  "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

Every time we think, we are thinking into a receptive plastic Substance, which receives the impress of our thought.  When we stop to realize how subtle thoughts are, how unconsciously we think negation, how easy it is to get "down and out" mentally, we shall see that each is perpetuating his own condition.  This is why people go from bad to worse or from success to a greater success.

Only as we gradually, definitely, and intelligently take true ideas and build them into the structure of our own thought, can there come the desired reaction.  In mental treatment, the practitioner deals solely with ideas, and treats neither bodies nor conditions.  He never manipulates, nor should he lay hands on his patient...He does not care where the patient is when he is treating him, or what he may be doing.  The practitioner's work begins and ends within his own consciousness.  This should be constantly borne in mind."

May 19 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Healing is Clear Thinking ~ Ernest Holmes

"Scientific mental healing is the result of clear thinking and logical reasoning, which presents itself to consciousness and is acted upon by Mind.  It is a systematic process of reasoning, which unearths the mental cause or idea underlying disease, and presents the Truth about man's being.

For instance, say to yourself:  "God is all there is.  There is only One Life."  When you are treating, if there is any slight point which is not clear, do not continue with the treatment.  Stop at once, go back to your analysis of Ultimate Reality and build your whole argument upon It, in order to get a clear consciousness.

Repeat:  "God is All.  There is but One Power, Intelligence and Consciousness in the Universe, but One Presence.  This One Presence cannot change into but Itself.  It is Changeless, and It is my life now, It is in me now."  Claim that no form of race-suggestion, belief in limitation, subjective idea of limitation, thought of karma, fatalism, theology or hell, horoscope, or any other false belief, has power.  Accept none of them.  If you have ever believed in them, if you have ever believed that the stars govern you, or that your environment governs you, or that your opportunities govern you, recognize this as an hypnotic condition into which you have fallen, and deny every one of them until there is no longer anything in you that believes in them.

This is a good way to clear your consciousness.  We can readily see what it does:  it induces a clear concept of Reality, which must reproduce Itself.  This process of clear thinking, if carried out every day, will heal.

When you are giving a treatment, you are thinking.  You are meeting, opposing, neutralizing, erasing and obliterating suppression, fear, doubt, failure, morbid emotion and sense of loss - whatever the trouble may be.  Every time your thought hits fairly and squarely, it erases just as definitely as one would erase a chalk line.  Such is the mystery of the appearance and the disappearance of thought."

May 18 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Disease Is Not Always Due to Conscious Thought ~ Ernest Holmes

"Diseases which are mental in their origin must arise from some inner state of consciousness.  While most disease must first have a subjective cause, this subjective cause (nine times out of ten) is not conscious in the thought of the person who suffers from it, but is perhaps largely the result of certain combinations of thinking.

So while it is true that disease has a prototype in subjective mind, it is also true that the individual who suffers from the disease, frequently has never thought he was going to have that particular kind of trouble.

But this does not alter the fact that every disease which comes up through subjectivity, and appears in the body, must come through mind.

How to Heal

In our work, we treat man, not as a physical body, neither do we treat the disease as belonging to him, the reason being that if we do, we cannot subsequently free him from it.  We do not think of the disease as being connected with him or a part of him.  The practitioner seeks to realize man as perfect, not needing to be healed of anything.  This is nothing less than the realization of the Presence and the Power of God, or Spirit, as Man's Life, as the only life there is, as complete and perfect in him right now.

First recognize your own perfection then build up the same recognition for your patient.  You are then ready to directly attack the thought that binds him, recognizing that your word destroys it, and stating that it does.  You may then take into account and specifically mention everything that needs to be changed, every so-called broken law or false thought.  Then finish your treatment with a realization of peace, remaining for a few moments in silent recognition that your work is done, complete and perfect.

The work must not be thought of as hard.  When we know that there is but One Mind, we shall realize that this work could not be difficult or laborious.   Mental treatment is a direct statement of belief into Mind, coupled with a realization that the work is already an accomplished fact.  The spiritual man needs no healing, health is an omnipresent reality, and when the obstructions that hinder healing are removed, it will be found that health was there all the time.  So in your work, do not feel that you must heal anyone.  Your only responsibility is to uncover the Truth.

Never say:  "Here is a patient whom I must heal," for if you think of him from this viewpoint, how are you going to heal him?  If you mentally see a sick man, he will remain mentally sick.  We cannot heal successfully while we recognize sickness as a reality to the Spirit.  In spiritual healing by this method, no one believes in disease, it  has no action nor reaction, it has neither cause nor effect, it has no law to support it and no one through whom it can operate.  There is no one to talk with about it, and no one to believe in it.  While we maintain that disease is primarily a thing of thought, we do not deny the actuality of its experience nor the suffering it causes, instead we seek to heal it, and we co-operate with all, no matter what method they are using to relieve distress.

You have nothing to do with the patient's thought as a personality, for as your own thought clears, he will be helped.  First eliminate doubt and fear from your own thought; realize that your patient is a Divine Being, and that your word is the law unto the thing unto which it is spoken.  This is what gave Jesus His power:  "For He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.""

May 17 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

I Behold in Thee His Image

I behold in thee His Image.

In thee, my friend, I see God, and through you I feel His presence.

I see in the hand that gives, His Hand;

And in the voice that speaks of Love, I hear Him speak.

For His lines have gone out into all places,

And from the highest to the lowest, all, all partake of his nature.

"For He is all in all, over all and through all."

I perceive that God is in all people.

I See No Evil

I see no evil; I behold only the good.

I have seen the drunkard lying in the gutter, and the saint kneeling in ecstasy before the high altar of his faith; but I have found no difference.

I have perceived that each, in his own tongue, is seeking to express the One Life.

I will not separate and divide; I cannot condemn nor censure, for I know that there is but One in All.

I know that all came from the One, and all will return to the One.

I know that all are now in the One, and that each is seeking to express the One.

I know and love all.

May 16 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Who Would Save His Life Shall Lose It ~ Ernest Holmes
(Based on Matt. 16:24-27) 

"This is another of those mystical sayings of Jesus which must be carefully considered before accepting it.  Does God demand that we give up everything if we are to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?  Of course not!  To suppose that God wills us to be limited, is to contradict the Divine Nature.  God's only will is to Be, and for all to Be, for God can conceive of man only as part of Himself.

It must be, then, that what we are to lose is the sense of living apart from Life.  We find ourselves in the Divine Idea, immersed in the Infinite Godhead, one with the Perfect Whole.  But should we think that we, of ourselves, without this relationship rightly established, can be, or can express, then we cut the cord that binds us to the main power line and lose what little power we have.

We are powerful only as we unite with Power.  We are weak when we desert this Power.  Not because God is jealous, but because this is the way things work.  The idea of a false renunciation - of the given up of all pleasure and benefits in this life - is not even suggested in the teachings of Jesus.  Self-effacement, the neglect of the body, the belief that we must be unhappy and poor in order to serve the Truth, all these are immature ideas which deny the divine birthright of the soul, the incarnated Spirit of the Most High within us.

When we are willing to lose a personal sense of responsibility; when we let go of the thought of isolation and claim a real unity with God, then we lose the personal and find the Universal.  But remember, as the greater always includes the lesser, so the Universal always includes the personal, which is a personification of Itself.

Man is to lose the small estimate of himself, the isolated person, and is to find the greater reality, the incarnated and real ego.  The image of the Father cannot be defaced nor can all the wit or the sham of man really obliterate this image.  The Eternal Light is God, and this Light illumines the pathway of the personal when there are no obstructions.

Who leans on the Truth, throwing all - with an undivided attention - on the scales of Reality, will find them balanced rightly, through the great law of compensation, which weighs and measures everything exactly as it is.

Fasting and Prayer ( Matt. 17:21)

We are not to suppose that the physical act of fasting, or the metaphysical act of prayer, can move the throne of grace to a kindness which is otherwise withheld.  God plays no favorites and the Law of the Universe cannot reverse Its own nature.  Fasting and prayer often do bring our thought closer to Reality, not because of the fasting or the prayer, but because they open up greater fields of receptivity in our minds.

If one wishes to embody an ideal and is willing to give up all else to attain it, then he is fasting and praying!  He is sublimating an old idea with a new and a better one. If he is willing to abstain from the old and cling to the new, then he is giving greater reality to the new, and in this way contacting the Law from a more affirmative angle.

A steadfast determination to attain some purpose, the letting go of all that opposes it, a complete reliance upon the Law of Good, and an unqualified trust in Spirit - this is true fasting and real prayer.

The scientist, in profound thought and meditation before his problem - deserting all to solve it - is praying a true prayer to the principle of his science.  The poet, waiting in the silence of his own soul for inspiration, is praying that he may invoke the spirit of poetry to his listening ear.  The sculptor, chiseling at his marble, contemplating the beauty to be brought forth, prays to his god of art; and the farmer, kneeling beside his cabbage patch, trusts in the natural Law of Good to bring his seed to harvest.

We live in a fasting and praying world, but often we do not read the signs aright.  We are too used to the outward sign to realize its inward significance.  The world is much better than it knows or feels itself to be.

Healing the Lunatic (Matt. 17:14-19)

What majesty and might do we see in the calm words of Jesus!  "Bring him hither to me."  No doubt is here, no sense of approaching failure, no lack of trust in the perfect Law which governs all.  "And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him."

Surely this lesson should teach us that evil is but an obsession and - from the standpoint of eternal Reality - a complete illusion.  Could we cast out evil from our thought if evil were a real entity or had actual power?  The answer is self-evident, we could not.  Evil flees before Reality and to the mind which knows it, evil is not."

May 15 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

Majestic Calm

The Inner Mind is still.

The Soul reflects the Most High.

The Spirit of man is God.

In the great calm of the All Good,

I rest in peace and security.

My life is now reflecting the Perfect Whole.

I am Peace; I am calm

I am security and complete satisfaction.

I am One with God.

I am filled with peace.

No Loss

There is no loss.

Nothing can be lost, misplaced nor forgotten.

There was never any loss nor confusion.

Creation is Perfect and Complete, within the One are all things, and all are known to the One.

I am now in complete harmony with the Whole and I cannot lose nor misplace anything.

I am constantly finding more and more Good.

I know that there is no loss.

May 14 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Disease Is Impersonal ~ Ernest Holmes

“The word disease means lack of ease – dis-ease.  Ab-normal, absence of a normal condition.  In order to do his work, it is necessary for the practitioner to know that disease is not an entity, any more than darkness (which is the absence of light) is an entity.  From the standpoint of the mental practitioner, disease is an impersonal thing, attempting to operate and personify itself, a thought force, a misconception, a conviction in the mind of the one who has it, and of course, an actual experience to the one who is suffering from it.

Regardless of its particular source, disease is an experience operating through people, which does not belong to them at all.  Recognize that it is neither person, place nor thing, that there is no spiritual law to support it, that it is discord fleeing before harmony, that there is nothing but the Truth.  You must know that the Power you are using is definite, scientific, dynamic, spiritual, absolute, complete, and that It will work.  Let no fear come into your thought.

The first thing a practitioner does is to separate the belief from the believer.  It is a personal, not a Cosmic problem.  Evil is not a problem to God, it is only a problem to the individual.  Therefore, we separate the belief from the believer, and begin to perceive the individual as a spiritual being, no longer subject to this belief, and even now the embodiment of perfection.  If the practitioner is able to see only perfection, wholeness, he will see health manifested in his patient.  The practitioner, then, recognizing that Mind, or Intelligence, or Spirit – whatever he chooses to call It – is the groundwork of all movement, definitely, specifically and consciously, speaks his word into this creative medium.

Begin to use this principle, no matter how slight you feel your knowledge, and the result will inspire you to perceive new ways and methods of approach, until you gradually grow into deeper assurance.

Man is fundamentally perfect, this is our whole premise – Perfect God, Perfect Man, Perfect Being – this is the whole basis of our argument.  Always mentally separate disease from the one suffering from it.  In mental practice, NEVER LOCATE DISEASE, because thoughts are things.  Separate the belief from the believer, for the spiritual man has no disease, and you are talking only about the spiritual man.”

May 13 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Spiritual Mind Healing ~ Ernest Holmes

"Never forget that Conscious Mind is the only Actor in the Universe and in man; that the unconscious or subjective mind is compelled - by reason of its nature - to accept.  It can never reject.  The body is an effect, with no intelligence of its own.  We can now see that a mental treatment is a real, tangible, specific operation, working in perfect accord with known law.

When a practitioner treats anyone, he does not just hope that his patient will get well, he does not ask that the patient may be healed, he does not simply desire that he may be healed; he convinces his own mind that the patient is perfect - a definite piece of mental work, bringing out in his own consciousness (in his own self-contemplative, conscious mind) an understanding that the patient is healed and is perfect.

Treatment is the act, the art, and the science of inducing thought within the mentality of the one treating, which thought shall perceive that the body of the patient is a Divine, Spiritual and Perfect Idea.  Treatment does not necessarily treat every organ of the body specifically, but it does declare the body to be harmonious, and that every specific idea in it is harmonious.  It then pays especial attention to what appears as the physical disorder.

As a result of this treatment, Subjective Mind - which is Universal and Omnipresent - accepts the images of the practitioner's thinking, and reflects them in the direction he specifies...to his patient.

The practitioner is not trying to send out a thought, hold a thought, or suggest a thought.  The practitioner is trying to realize the state of perfection of the patient.  We must be certain that we differentiate between suggestion (which is all right as far as it goes, but limited)  and real metaphysical healing.  In metaphysical healing, we are conscious that we are dealing with a Universal Principle or Law, which takes the impress of our thought and acts upon it.  We are dealing with Something that cannot, and does not argue.  We are directing It for definite purposes, telling It to do certain things, which It does.  This is what occurs when we give a treatment.

We leave the field of materia medica to do its own work.  Our work is done entirely in the field of mind.  Without controversy, we work side by side with any doctor the patient may desire - we, in the field of mind, the physician in his own field.  If this is persisted in over a period of years, the two fields will be brought closer together.  This will be one of the greatest steps ever undertaken in the curative art.

When one begins treatment for another, there is sometimes a great sense of personal responsibility.  The practitioner, through sympathy, may feel a sense of doubt and burden, but always this is built upon the idea that he, himself, has to accomplish the results!  Should this occur, the practitioner should begin at once to treat himself against this thought, for as long as he has it there is a barrier to healing.  Why?  Because, when you sift that sense of responsibility down to its last analysis, it is a belief that you cannot heal!  Do not give in to that belief - not even for a second - because it is nothing but a thought which says you cannot heal.  Nothing but a thought is saying, or could be saying it, and since it is only a thought which says it, it is only a thought which can unsay it.  Declare:  "My word has the power to heal," and you will find the doubt slipping away.

The practitioner must treat himself to know that the word he speaks is entirely independent, even of himself.  If we walk out on the roof of a high building and drop a chair over the side, it will fall to the ground.  There is a law which draws it there, we are not responsible for the law, we do not have to make the chair hit the ground.  In like manner, if this treatment is through the medium of a Law on the subjective side of life, it is our business to give the treatment:  it is the business of the Law to execute it.

However, as practitioners, we do have an obligation - to treat a case if we take it.  If someone says to you casually, "hold a good thought for me today," you should reply:  "Do you mean you wish me to give you a treatment, to take a definite time - thirty minutes, more or less - and do specific mental work for you?  Is that what you wish?"  People unfamiliar with this work may still be under the impression that the word done consists of "Holding a good thought."

People must come to realize that treatment is a specific thing.  Each case is specific, and no two can be treated entirely alike.  One is dishonest if he contracts to take a larger number of cases than he has time to intelligently treat."

May 12 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

Only Our Own Concepts Limit Us ~ Ernest Holmes

“Realizing that conscious thought operates through a Power which is Infinite, we see there can be no limit to the power to heal, other than the limit of our ability to conceive that Power as healing.  We are limited, not by Principle, but by our own inability to see perfection.  Our thought can bring out a condition as perfect as we can conceive.  Therefore, the man whose thought is the most God-like – that is, the truest, the highest, the most noble, the most complete, the most peaceful – will be the best healer.  His thought reflects a greater perfection.  That is why we cannot divorce true mental healing from true spiritual work.  When thought reaches a higher degree of perfection, as the race consciousness unfolds and evolves, it will bring out a still greater development of life than we know now.”

May 11 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

We Are Allowed to Choose ~ Ernest Holmes

"Man has the ability to choose what he will do with his life, and is unified with a Law which automatically produces his choice.  While he does not have the ability to destroy the idea of himself, he does have the ability to deface it, to make it appear discordant, but he cannot destroy the Divine Image.  Man is an individual and does with himself what he wills.  The Scriptures say:  "God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions."  Individuality cannot be automatically produced; it must be spontaneous.   It would not be individuality without the ability to think as it chose.

We live in a Universe of Love as well as a Universe of Law.  One is the complement of the other - the Universe of Love pulsating with feeling, with emotion, and the Universe of Law, the Executor of all feeling and all emotion.  In this lesson on healing, then, let us remember that back of the man which we see is the Divine Image.  There is perfect Concept of Man, held in the Mind of the Universe as an already accomplished fact, but man is subject to the law of his own choice.

Man Re-enacts God

Man is conscious mind or spirit; this stands for his objective faculty.  The objective mind of man is his recognition of life in a conscious state - it is the only attribute of man that is volitional, or self-choosing.  Consequently, it is the spiritual man.  The conscious mind of man is the contemplator.

Let us bear in mind what we have already learned:  that the Universe is the result of the contemplation of the Divine Mind, or the Holy Spirit, which is God.  God creates by contemplating His own I-AM-NESS, and this contemplation, through Law, becomes the objectification of the Self-Realization of the Infinite Mind.

The Divine Nature is re-enacted in man; he is conscious mind and spirit, and, as he contemplates, he reflects his thought into the Universal Subjectivity where it is received and acted upon.

As Mind, or Soul, accepts these images of thought, It operates upon unformed substance and causes it to take definite form as body, which is unconscious form.  It becomes definite form, but the form itself is unconscious, because it is made of immaterial substance.   Body, of itself, without Mind, has neither consciousness nor volition.  Devoid of mentality, the body neither thinks, sees, hears, feels, touches nor tastes.  Take the mentality away from a body and it becomes a corpse.  Having no conscious intelligence, it at once begins to disintegrate and to resolve into the Universal Substance, or unformed matter, from which it came.

Although man is inherently a perfect idea, his individuality covers this idea with the forms of thought which he images.  Man comes into this life subjective to the race consciousness and to his own environment, he unfolds his own personality and begins to crate new subjective thought.  He thinks and observes, draws certain conclusions and deductions, and incorporates them within his mentality, until at last they also become a part of the relative cause of his objective existence.

Healing, then is accomplished by uncovering, neutralizing and erasing false images of thought, and letting the perfect idea reflect itself through subjective mind into the body.

When one realizes that everything is Mind and that nothing moves but Mind, and that the only instrument of Mind is thought (which is contemplation in some form or other) he will see that nothing can permanently heal unless it be accompanied by right thinking."

May 10 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

The Word of Power

My Word is a Word of Power, for I know that it is the Word of the Great God within me.

My Word shall accomplish and prosper, and shall do good unto all who call upon my name.

My Word is a tower of strength and cannot be denied.

It is complete and perfect here and now.

My Word is the Word of God.

My word is the word of God.

The Unassailable Truth and the Irresistible Word

The Truth within me is unassailable, and the Power of the Word is irresistible.

I can even now feel that my Word has gone forth with Power and Reality, and that it will accomplish that purpose for which it was created.

Limitless is its Power and wonderful are its works.

It can be nothing less than the Almighty working in and through me.

I will let this Word of the Spirit go forth from my mouth, and heal and bless the world.

It shall be as a strong tower unto all who call upon it.

The Truth is Complete and Perfect, and is within me now.

My Word is complete and perfect, now.

May 9 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Pearl of Great Price (Matt. 13:45, 46) ~ Ernest Holmes

"The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a pearl of great price, for which a man will sell all that he has, that he may possess it.  This, perhaps, best explains the way of the illumined.  To them, the kingdom of heaven has meant everything, and has been above all else.  We find them going away by themselves that they may more completely enjoy this inner realization of their relationship to the Whole.  A divine companionship has ever attended such, on the pathway of human experience.  The description of the things they have seen, felt and heard, constitutes some of the most valuable lessons the world has ever learned.

The only news we have of Heaven has come through he consciousness of men, and to those few who have penetrated the veil of illusion and entered the realms of deeper reality, we owe a debt that cannot be paid in any other terms than those of appreciation and thanksgiving.

That the illumined have had experiences which the average man cannot conceive of, is certain; and that anyone who wills to know Truth may know it, is evident to all who make the attempt.  But let us not forget that spiritual experiences are normal, natural and rational.  The illumined have always had rational intellects and well-balanced mentalities.

No experience is salutary, unless it be gained while in a normal state of mind.  Too great a warning cannot be given against any attempt to break through the veil, when in any other but a perfectly normal mental state.

Jesus lived in the spiritual world just as normally as we live in the material, and just as consciously.  And what is the spiritual world?  And where is it?  It is right here, could we but see it.  Behind everything material, stands the spiritual, supporting it, and without which there could be no material.

That Which Defiles (Matt. 15:18, 19, 20)

Not what we eat or drink, but what we think, defiles.  The issues of life are from within.  If a man is clean in his mind, then is he clean indeed.  We must keep the mental house free from any thought which contradicts the truth of being.

Life is what consciousness makes it.  This is a great realization.  Experience may appear to disclaim this fact, but the principle involved is an immutable one, and cannot be shaken any more than the integrity of the universe can be violated.

Let each resolve to be true to himself, true to his inner light, true to the Truth as he understands It.  When every man learns to speak the Truth, a complete salvation will come to the world.  If one thinks impurity, then his acts will be impure.  If his thought dwells on purity and Truth, then his acts - reflecting his mind - will make him pure and true.

Every plant which is not of God's planting shall be rooted up.  In the long run, everything that does not belong to the Heavenly Kingdom will be destroyed.  Truth alone can endure.

When the Blind Lead the Blind (Matt. 15:14)

"If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."  We must be careful what kind of thought we are following.  We must test all ideas to see whether they are of the Truth.  It is a mistake to accept every man's philosophy simply because it sounds plausible.  We are to be on guard against accepting that which is not true.  And let us remember this:  the Truth is simple, direct and always self-evident.

False ideas heaped  upon false ideas make bad matters worse.  The whole confusion of the world arises from the fundamental errors of thought.  Chief among these errors - and the father to a greater part of the others - is a belief in duality.  The belief in duality supposes that evil is equal to good:  that a suppositional devil divides, with Good, the kingdom of Truth.  Such things cannot be.  Remember the teachings of Moses, that "God is One."  If, on the other hand, we accept that evil has a power equal to good, then we must fall into the ditch of our own confusion.

To believe in the good alone, may seem fallacious to many, but he who thus believes will find his path lighted by a torch which flickers not, nor fails."

May 8 - The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

Happiness and Completion

I am happy and complete, today and forever.

Within me is that which is Perfect and Complete.

It is The Spirit of all Life, Truth and Action.

I am happy in the certain knowledge of this Inner Light.

I cannot be sad nor sorry, but must radiate Joy and Life,

For Life is within me now.

I am happy and complete.

Here and Now

Perfection is already accomplished.

I am that Perfect Life here and now.

Today I express the Limitless Life of the All Good.

Today I manifest my Completion in every part of me.

Today I am saved.

Here and now I am healed.

May 7 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION (Continued) ~ Ernest Holmes

"Concentration of thought is not an effort to compel, but the desire to permit, the stream of Creative Energy to take definite form.  To try to force, through concentration, would be to give ourselves an adverse suggestion and bring upon ourselves the very opposite to our wishes through recognizing an opposite to the power of Good.  And all in accord with well known and defined mental law in the Spiritual World.

We concentrate our attention.  The Law creates the form.  This will solve one of those Divine Riddles which arise out of the teachings of Jesus.  He was always telling his followers to believe, to have faith and then he as plainly said, "Who by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?"  Here he tells us not to take thought.  The riddle is solved the moment we place thought, imagination, will and concentration where they rightly belong in the creative order.

A good psychological balance is struck when the will and the emotions are rightly poised.  That is, when the intellect first decides what the emotions are to respond to.  After the intellect has made this decision, then the imagination is called into play and the game of living commences.  It is the office of the will to determine that to which the imagination is to respond.

One of the most important things for us to remember is that we are always causing something to be created for us.  And that whatever cause we have set in motion must produce some kind of an effect.  Are we producing the effects we should like to experience?  The creative process will go on willy nilly.  We cannot beat Nature at its own game for we are some part of the game She is playing.  Shall the result, in our lives, be a comedy or a tragedy?  We are given the WILL to decide the issue.

We should carefully consider whether we are willing to experience the results of our thoughts.  There should never be any hurt in them, for ourselves or for anyone else.  We may be sure that if there is hurt for others there must also be hurt for ourselves.  As we sow, so we must reap, but here is no real limitation, for the Creative Life wishes us to have all that we can use.  If we keep our thought fixed upon the idea that this Energy, which is also Intelligence, is now taking the form of some desire in our lives, then it will begin to take this form.  If we change the desire then It will change the form.  Therefore, there must be a definite purpose in our imagination.

We are so One with the Whole that what is true of It is also true of us.  We are one with unmanifest Substance whose business it is to forever take form and we are one with the Law which gives form.  The entire order is one of spontaneous being and spontaneous manifestation.  The Law follows the word just as the word follows the desire.  The desire arises from the necessity of the Universe to become self-expressed.  The Law follows the word.  The word follows the desire.  The word gives form to Substance and the Principle of subjective Law produces the manifestation.  There is no effort in the process whatsoever.

What we concentrate, then, is attention.  This is done through intention and the willingness to hold thought centered until the form appears.  It is unnecessary to learn any methods of concentration whatsoever if these simple rules are followed."

May 6 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION (Continued) ~ Ernest Holmes

"We realize that mental healing must also be spiritual healing, for the two cannot be divorced. We know that a belief in duality - a belief in the power of Good and the power of evil - has helped to destroy man, and the understanding of Unity alone will heal him.  We seek to realize this Unity with God in all our healing work.  Every treatment must carry with it a realization of God, if it is to be a good treatment.  We are not in any way superstitious about this, but understand that it is necessary since all life is One, and God is the ONE Life in which we all live.

We realize that since our understanding is not yet complete, it is legitimate to use all methods which will help troubled humanity, but we do look forward to the day when Truth alone will answer every need!  The mental healer will do all his work in mind, and will give his whole time and attention to correct knowing, but he will leave his patient free to use any method that will benefit him.  In this way, the practitioner will get the best results, for everything is good as far as it goes, but the consciousness of Truth alone is the tool of a spiritual practitioner.

Too much cannot be said against the belief that will power is creative.  The will is directive but not creative.  Will is the conscious, directive power of the intellect and as such has a very important place in the creative order but in no case is it to be used as though it could force things to happen.  Any idea of using the will to influence people is a mistake.

If we agree that we can influence others by will power, then we are also admitting that someone else with a greater power of will can influence us.  There is no law of nature that works only one way since all natural laws are impersonal.  The temporary effects of will power continue only so long as the will forces them to.  They have no real life within themselves and must disintegrate as soon as the unnatural force is withdrawn.

Moreover this use of will power contradicts the main foundation upon which all true mental science is built, that we use a Creative Power which does not need to be urged or forced into action.  It is Its nature to act and because we are as we are, it is Its nature to act creatively upon the images of thought that we impress It with.  We do not create energy, we distribute it, and in the natural sciences we know that we can transform energy from one type to another.  So the will may decide what form the energy is to take but it cannot nor does it need to create the energy.

The Energy of Mind like other natural energies already exists.  We merely use It and it is within our province to use It in any way we may desire, we have it within our power to cause it to take varying forms for us, no particular one is permanent.  The imagination is creative, the will is directive.

Through will we decide just what we wish to have done.  We may wish to use the creative power of mind for helping someone else, for self-help, or for some other purpose.  The will holds attention to the mental viewpoint until the creative power has time to work through the law of unfoldment.  We may wish on the other hand to draw some information to ourselves; the will then holds to the idea that we are receiving the desired information.  It can become active or receptive or it may pass into a state of neutral contemplation where its purpose is merely to sense the wonders of the spiritual life.  But in no case does the will become creative.

The will is given us to protect ourselves with.  Nothing should be allowed to pass into the creative currents of our thought until the will has first admitted it.  The will must first analyze, dissect and then decide what it wishes the inner imagination to work on.  True spiritual work will strengthen the will without exhausting the mind; if our mental work tires us then we are using the will in the wrong way.  The right way would be to determine to think peace whether there appeared to be any reason to expect that peace would be forthcoming in the experience.

As we should understand the proper use of the will, so we should understand the true meaning of concentration.  So many different ideas have been promulgated that a great deal of confusion results.  To concentrate means to bring to a center, and in Mental Science it means focusing the mental attention on some definite and desired thought, image, idea or thing.  Of course we are dealing with the idea as though thoughts were things.  The spirit of the thing is in the thought.  This is its essence, law and cause."

May 5 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Law of God Is One of Liberty (II Cor. 3:17) ~ Ernest Holmes

"The law of God is one of liberty and not one of bondage.  The Spirit of the Lord is everywhere.  Freedom and liberty are also everywhere if we could but see them.  Freedom, like Truth, is self-existent and self-propelling.  The Spirit, Truth, and Freedom are co-existent with one another.

Whenever we are conscious of God, or pure Spirit, we are made free. This is proven in mental and spiritual healing; when we are conscious of perfect life, the body is healed.  We must become unconscious of the imperfect and conscious of the perfect alone.  Since our ideas of perfection are limited to our present understanding, we do not yet manifest perfection.  With a greater unfoldment of Reality through our consciousness, we shall evolve a more perfect body.

In the demonstration of abundance, we seek to realize the liberty of the Sons of God - the freedom whereby God proves His absoluteness.  This is done, not by meditation upon limitation, but by contemplating plenty, abundance, success, prosperity and happiness.

It is unscientific to dwell upon lack, for it will create the undesired condition.  It is scientific to meditate on plenty, to bring the mind to a point of conceiving an eternal flow of life, truth and energy through us...and through everything that we do, say or think!

How to Demonstrate Liberty

To demonstrate liberty, drop all negative thoughts from the mind.  Do not dwell upon adversity but think plenty into everything, for there is power in the word.  Meditate on the things you are doing as being already done - complete and perfect.

Try to sense the Infinite Life around and within you.  This Life is already fully expressed and complete.  This Life is your life now and the life of all that you do, say or think.  Meditate upon this Life until your whole being flows into It and becomes one with It.

Now you are ready to prove your principle by allowing this Life to flow through the thing that you are working on or for.  Do not will or try to compel things to happen.  Things happen by an immutable law and you do not need to energize the Essence of Being; It is already big with power.  All you need do is to realize this fact, and then let it be done unto you, or unto that for which you are working.  L-E-T is a big word and an important one.  By taking thought, you do not add one cubit to Reality, but you do allow (let) Reality to manifest in the things you are doing.

As the power of your meditation is centered on what you are doing, life flows through that thing, animating it with real power and action, which culminates in the desired result.  The Spirit of God is loosed in your work.  Where this Spirit is, there is liberty."

May 4 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

PHYSICAL PERFECTION ~ Ernest Holmes

What We Understand About Healing

"There is no question that people throughout the ages have been healed through prayer and faith, that they have mentally contacted a healing Law in this spiritual Universe of Law and Order.  How did they contact this Law?  All prayer is mental, being a certain mental attitude, a certain way of thinking, a certain way of believing, an uplifting process, a belief in God.  Some prayers fall short of this state, while others reach a state of spiritual awareness.

We come to understand, then, that the answer to prayer is in the prayer when it is prayed - the belief of the one praying sets in motion the Law of Love, which is the fundamental Law of the Universe.

Man's life, in reality, is spiritual and mental, and until his thought is healed, no form of cure will be permanent.  We understand that health is a mental as well as a physical state.  We seek to heal men's mentalities, knowing that to the degree in which we are successful, we shall also be healing their bodies.  We know, too, that to the degree in which we are able to see a perfect man, he will appear. We feel that the spiritual or real man is perfect and we seek to uncover this perfection which is within every man's life.  This is spiritual mind healing.

Man will deliver himself from sickness and trouble in exact proportion to his discovery of himself and his true relationship to the Whole.  Law is Law wherever we find it, and we shall discover that the Laws of Mind and Spirit must be understood, if they are to be consciously used for definite purposes.  The SPIRIT KNOWS and the LAW OBEYS.  Hidden away in the inner nature of real man, is the law of his life.

As the Laws of God are broad, so should we be in dealing with them.  In this Science, we believe that man's life is a drama which takes place on three planes:  the physical, the mental, and the spiritual.  We should have no objection to any form of healing, for anything that helps to overcome suffering is good, whether it be a pill or a prayer.  We believe in any method which produces results, for each has its place in the Whole.

We believe in every church and in all forms of worship.  Above all, we certainly believe in God!  Because Truth is Infinite, It must be continuously unfolding in the consciousness of man and no one will ever have a complete understanding of Truth.  A complete understanding of Truth would be a complete understanding of God, and a complete comprehension of God would be to become God.  We know that more light will be given as we use that which we have, and we repudiate any belief which says that all of Truth has been given."

May 3 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

O Man, Speak Forth Thy Word

O man, speak forth thy word and be not afraid.

Did you not know? have you not heard?

His Divinity is planted within thee, and thy word is one with all power.

The Spirit of the Most High is thy Spirit, and the Word of God is thy word.

Thy freedom is hid within thee, and thy inner light shall illumine thy way.

Speak man, and be free!  Announce and proclaim thy works!

Let thy word go forth with power, and thy Spirit shall conquer all.

Spirit within me, speak.

The Power of the Word

The Word is a mighty Power, and that Word is in me and through me now.

My Word is one with the All Good and cannot fail to accomplish the desired ends.

My Word goes forth with Power unto everything that I do, say or think.

The Word is my Power by day and by night.

I will speak that Word and trust in the great Law of Life to fulfill it.

I speak the word in full confidence.

May 2 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

The Seeing Eye (Matt. 13:16) ~ Ernest Holmes

""Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear."  What is it the eye should see and the ear hear?  Do not all people's eyes see and their ears hear?  No.  But few, indeed, when looking, see, or listening, hear.

We are to see that Spirit creates all things by the power of Its own word, and that we are spiritual beings.  We are to hear that inner voice of Truth, which is ever proclaiming the freedom of all life, the eternal unity of God with man.  It is useless for those who have never experienced this inner seeing or hearing to deny its reality.  A man might as well say there is no meadow because he has never seen one.  The world needs spiritual experience, as it needs bread and butter.  Men need spiritual convictions as they need meat and drink.  And with spiritual convictions come all else.  To those who have, shall be given.

The Kingdom and the Mustard Seed (Matt. 13:31, 32)

"The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed."  From a knowledge of mental action, we know that a constructive idea, planted or buried in the subjective mind, tends to grow into a real condition.  Jesus could not have chosen a more comprehensive way to illustrate this point.

The Kingdom is Like Leaven (Matt.13:33)

"The kingdom of heaven is like leaven."  We know that thoughts planted in mind have the power to chemicalize opposing ideas, and leaven the whole lump of subjectivity.  In this way, ideas gradually permeate the mind and influence all thought and action.  If the idea is of heaven, it will certainly bring about a heavenly state."

May 1 ~ The Science of Mind in a Year

MEDITATIONS  for Self-Help

Ernest Holmes

The Healing of the Flesh

My flesh is the Manifestation of the Spirit in my body.

It is kept perfect through the Law of God.

"In my flesh shall I see God."

The mantle of flesh is perfect and complete here and now.

It is one with the Body of God, and cannot be sick, nor suffer.

My flesh is Perfect.

There Is No Pain

There is no pain nor inflammation.

All fear is swept away in the realization of Truth.

I am free from every belief in pain.

The Spirit cannot pain, and I am Pure Spirit.

I am free from all pain.